Tag: Dairy Free

These vegan snickerdoodle cookies are full of flavor and healthy ingredients. And they make an excellent snack or simple dessert. I so appreciate Anthony William, who creates and offers a steady stream of delicious, easy to follow recipes. The cookies came together quickly, just in time for afternoon tea.

Vegan Snickerdoodle Cookies

This recipe is dairy, refined sugar, gluten and egg free. Walnuts can be left out, for a nut free bread.

Form dough into walnut sized balls and roll in sugar/cinnamon mixture. Place on parchment paper. Flatten balls of dough with palm of hand or bottom of a glass.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until slightly brown on bottom.

Notes

Arrowroot starch may be substituted for coconut flour. Gluten free oat flour may be substituted for almond flour.

Tea Time

Savoring a couple of warm snickerdoodle cookies, with a steaming cup of hot herbal tea, the treat reminded me of shortbread cookies. Crisp with a softer center, and not too sweet, this cookie provides the perfect excuse to take a break and enjoy the moment.

I like that the recipe makes a small batch of cookies. It can easily be doubled. However, twelve cookies seems just right. I’m not tempted to overdo. Instead, two cookies with tea satisfies my desire for a snack.

Serve these vegan snickerdoodle cookies for an afternoon break, pack into a lunchbox or finish an evening meal with a hint of sweetness. They are perfect.

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I’m always on the lookout for healthy treats. It’s not easy because I have tough criteria. The snack can’t contain gluten, refined sugar, eggs or dairy products. Thankfully, such recipes do exist. For Try This Tuesday, I tried out a quick and recipe for 3 ingredient chocolate cookies.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mash bananas in a bowl. Add oats and cacao powder and stir until cookie dough like consistency is reached. Depending on size of the bananas, you may need less oats. Start with 3/4 of a cup and add more to make a dough that holds its shape. Optional: add in a handful of unsweetened coconut flakes, dark chocolate chips sweetened with stevia, dried fruit or nuts.

These were so easy to make and turned out well! The cookies hold their shape during baking and have a wonderful texture and chocolate flavor without being too sweet. I like how versatile the recipe is. I added a handful of unsweetened coconut flakes to this batch. I’ll try adding nuts or dark chocolate chips sweetened with stevia next time.

I sampled two warm, fresh from the oven cookies with my afternoon tea. This is what I love, hot tea made from herbs plucked from my garden, and light, wholesome snacks that contribute to health, rather than complicate it. I’ll be experimenting with different versions of this basic recipe!

I enjoy the tradition of afternoon tea, a habit I’ve cultivated after my first trip to Scotland in 2014. After switching to a plant based lifestyle, my tea time foods changed dramatically. Gone are the finger sandwiches, the sweet treats and the shortbread cookies. Instead I typically have fresh fruit with my tea or a simple snack such as hummus and veggies. Occasionally though, I long for a popular afternoon tea food…the scone.

In Scotland and England scones more resemble tall, light, fluffy American-style biscuits. They are sweeter than our biscuits, and so delicious served with strawberry preserves and clotted cream. I can’t have such scones now. I know I wouldn’t feel well if I ate one. So for months I’ve been adapting different recipes, in search of an acceptable blueberry scone recipe. After many failures, I at last have a winner.

This recipe is adapted from one I found on Pinterest, by Alisa Fleming, who was going for a Panera scone copycat.

With adaptations, here is the recipe.

Healthy Blueberry Scones

2 cups gluten free flour

1/2 cup organic coconut sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup frozen wild blueberries (or 1/4 cup dried wild blueberries)

1 cup full-fat coconut milk, from a can

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine flour, coconut sugar, baking powder and sea salt in a large bowl. Add frozen blueberries and stir to coat berries in flour mixture. Add full-fat coconut milk and vanilla. Stir until ingredients are well mixed and sticky dough forms.

For the flour, I use a cup of oat flour and a cup of garbanzo flour. Another good gluten free choice is almond flour. The coconut sugar resembles coarse brown sugar. It is much less sweet and drier. And it is very important to use canned full-fat coconut milk. I shake the can well before opening, to mix the coconut water with the fat that has collected at the top of the can. I save the left over coconut milk and use it to make another batch of scones.

These blueberry scones are so easy to make, and they are gluten, dairy, refined sugar, egg and oil free. And the taste? They are wonderful and satisfy my desire for a tea time treat. As healthy as they are, I only indulge in these scones once a month or so. Most of the time, my afternoon break unfolds quite well with an herbal tea and a juicy piece of fruit. I save the blueberry scones for a special treat!

I enjoy a warm drink in the evening, year around. During the summer, my drink of choice is a cup of hot herbal tea, brewed from herbs freshly picked from my garden. With the arrival of cooler weather, I look for additional nighttime drinks to sip on. It is essential to me that these bedtime drinks be warming and soothing and also full of health boosting benefits.

I was excited to try this dairy free turmeric milk. I found the recipe on Facebook, in a group I am part of called Avocado. This delicious and easy to prepare recipe comes from Anna Davis.

Warm Turmeric Milk

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon dried turmeric

• 1 tablespoon raw organic honey

• Dash of coarsely ground black pepper

• Dash of cinnamon

• 1 cup of unsweetened dairy free plant based milk such as almond or coconut

In a small bowl mix together honey, turmeric, black pepper and cinnamon, making a paste. Warm plant based milk. Add small amount to turmeric mixture, stirring until smooth and thinned out. Add turmeric mixture to remainder of milk. Sprinkle with additional cinnamon and enjoy.

I used unsweetened almond coconut dairy free milk. The coconut adds a subtle flavor that I like. Plain almond milk can be used as well. As the milk heated, I whisked the honey, turmeric, and black pepper together.

The spicy aroma was wonderfully tantalizing as I added a small amount of warm milk to the honey mixture. After it was thinned out, I poured the mixture into the cup of milk.

A sprinkle of cinnamon on top and my bedtime turmeric milk was ready to savor. And savor it I did. This drink was so good that I had to pace myself. The taste is full of flavor but mild.

Turmeric is considered one of the most effective medicinal herbs with powerful benefits for the body. Curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, is anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. The body absorbs curcumin much better when black pepper is ingested at the same time.

Curcumin is linked to improved brain function and a lessening of brain diseases, less risk of heart disease, cancer prevention, depression prevention, inhibition of Alzheimer’s, improvement of arthritis through lessening of inflammation and it has anti-aging properties.

That’s a lot of health benefits packed into a tasty nighttime drink. In addition, turmeric soothes the digestive tract, which contributes to a better night’s sleep.

Raw organic honey, locally produced, is a good source of antioxidants. Health benefits of honey include soothes the digestive tract, eases seasonal allergies and sore throats, protects the body from cell damage, and it is antibacterial and anti-fungal.

Best of all, this drink centers me as it warms me, preparing me for a time of deep rest. My body craves it, encouraging me to sip on a cup every evening. Turmeric milk has become my favorite bedtime drink!